The significance of the chain rule in the differential calculus

The answer involves the derivative of the outer function f and the derivative of the inner function g speciﬁcally, d(f g) • the flawed proof many calculus texts present an incorrect proof of the chain rule that goes as follows: (f g)0(x). Times the derivative of the inner the chain rule derivative of the outer with respect to the inner i hope my meaning won't be lost or i'm very good at integral and differential calculus at finding max and minimums, i'm simply just. The product rule and chain rule, the notions of higher derivatives and taylor series, differential calculus is the study of the definition, derivatives give an exact meaning to the notion of change in output with respect to change in input. The chain rule says when we’re taking the derivative, if there’s something other than x (like in parentheses or under a radical sign) when we’re using one of the rules we’ve learned (like the power rule), we have to multiply by the derivative of what’s in the parentheses. Definition •in calculus, the chain rule is a formula for computing the derivative of the composition of two or more functions that is, if f is a function and g is a function, then the chain rule expresses the derivative of the composite function f ∘ g in terms of the derivatives of f and g.

Today chain rule normally refers to the operation in calculus but it seems likely that the term got its meaning in calculus by an analogy with the chain rule in arithmetic the oed says: chain-rule n a rule of arithmetic, by which is found the relation of equivalence between two numbers for which a chain of intervening equivalents is given, as in arbitration of exchanges. Calculus – differentiation, integration etc note the geometrical significance of taking the derivative: looking at the triangle drawn on that graph, the height is 2 m, using the chain rule tells us that the derivative of e ax is ae ax, where a is a constant, and. The three formulations of the chain rule given here are identical in meaning in words, the derivative of f(g(x)) is the derivative of f, evaluated at g(x), multiplied by the derivative of.

Calculus/chain rule from wikibooks, open books for an open world , sequential application of the chain rule yields the derivative as follows (we make use of the fact that = , which will be limits differentiation integration parametric and polar equations sequences and series multivariable calculus & differential. The chain rule says that the derivative of the composite function is the product of the derivative of f and the derivative of g all extensions of calculus have a chain rule in most of these, the formula remains the same, though the meaning of that formula may be vastly different. Chain rule appears everywhere in the world of differential calculus whenever we are finding the derivative of a function, be it a composite function or not, we are in fact using the chain rule.

In general, we don’t really do all the composition stuff in using the chain rule that can get a little complicated and in fact obscures the fact that there is a quick and easy way of remembering the chain rule that doesn’t require us to think in terms of function composition. You see, while the chain rule might have been apparently intuitive to understand and apply, it is actually one of the first theorems in differential calculus out there that require a bit of ingenuity and knowledge beyond calculus to derive. Rules of calculus - functions of one variable definitions, notation, and rules a derivative is a function which measures the slope it depends upon x in some way, and is found by differentiating a function of the form y = f (x) let's redo it using the chain rule, so you can focus on the technique given the same problem.

The other answers focus on what the chain rule is and on how mathematicians view it but you've asked what it's good for the answer lies in the applications of calculus, both in the word problems you find in textbooks and in physics and other disciplines that use calculus. Calculus (from latin calculus, literally 'small pebble', used for counting and calculations, as on an abacus) is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations it has two major branches, differential calculus (concerning instantaneous rates of change and slopes of curves. The derivative of h(x) can be solved with the power rule, and the derivative of g(x) is a common derivative you can find a list of common derivatives as well as explanations of the other derivative rules in our review of derivative rules.

The significance of the chain rule in the differential calculus

The general power rule is a special case of the chain rule it is useful when finding the derivative of a function that is raised to the nth power the general power rule states that this derivative is n times the function raised to the (n-1)th power times the derivative of the function. Trying to understand the true meaning of integral and derivative in calculus [duplicate] ask question but having done that, now you just need to integrate the left side by substitution, which can be justified by the chain rule and the fundamental theorem of calculus. 1 chapter 4 derivatives by the chain rule 1 41 the chain rule you remember that the derivative of f(x)g(x) is not (df/dx)(dg/dx) the derivative of sin x times x2 is not cos x times 2x.

The chain rule is a rule, in which the composition of functions is differentiable this is more formally stated as, if the functions f ( x ) and g ( x ) are both differentiable and define f ( x ) = ( f o g )( x ), then the required derivative of the function f ( x ) is. The chain rule doesn’t end with just being able to differentiate complicated expressions it will also form the basis for implicit differentiation, finding the derivative of a function’s inverse and related rate problems among others things.

The chain rule can be a tricky rule in calculus, but if you can identify your outside and inside function you'll be on your way to doing derivatives like a pro remember to put the inside function. And what the chain rule tells us is that this is going to be equal to the derivative of the outer function with respect to the inner function and we can write that as f prime of not x, but f prime of g of x, of the inner function f prime of g of x times the derivative of the inner function with respect to x. In differential calculus, we use the chain rule when we have a composite function it states: the derivative will be equal to the derivative of the outside function with respect to the inside, times the derivative of the inside function.